Crazy Day

I’ve been running since the minute I got up.  I had to get a few things ready before I went to a prayer meeting at ten.  The meeting lasted until nearly one, when I had a friend coming over for lunch.  She was already in our living room waiting for me when I got home two minutes before one o’clock.  We ate then visited a few hours.   I had an hour after she left until My Pal Vestina came by so I ran to the store for a few things while waiting for her.  We all had leftovers for dinner.  Vestina was getting a haircut next door so the timing worked out well.  Tante Kari came up for a little visit and to say goodbye.  We then left to take our car to the repair shop so it can get fixed while we are gone.  Odd brought us home and here it is, bedtime, and I’m wondering how the hours flew by as fast as they did. 

I could write more, but I need to sleep.  We get up at five to catch the bus to the airport and then we are off to Oslo, then Vienna, then Tel Aviv.  We don’t get to the hotel in Israel until two in the morning on Wednesday so there is a lot of waiting in airports tomorrow and it will surely be a long day.

I’m not sure if I’ll get an internet signal anywhere or if I’ll even be able to post my blog while we are gone, but I’ll try.  What I am sure of however, is that we’re in for a memorable time.

Pinsedag

Pentecost was in full swing this morning at the local Pentecostal church we attend across the street from our condo. It was an incredibly special day for us because both Pentecostal churches in town decided to join together for one service on this very celebratory day. I am sure part of their reasoning was because it’s a three day weekend and attendance would be very low at all churches in Norway, but it was a great idea, nonetheless. I joked with Kory as we looked around at the people in the sanctuary, when I said, “These are all the people in Norway who do NOT have a cabin.” About 42% of all Norwegians own a cabin, and most certainly, they were all at them this weekend.




Both Agape church and Philadelphia church were under one roof this morning – and since we split our time between the two of them when we are here, we had our whole church family together worshiping God. It was very cool and exciting to see everyone at once. Kaleb and I were elated the Agape worship team sang our all time favorite song “Uten deg” (Without You). Oh man, that song makes me cry every time I sing it. Translated, the words to the chorus are: Without you I am without hope, but with you, I have everything.” If that doesn’t encapsulate the Christian experience, I don’t know what does.



We invited cousin Axel (Tante Aslaug’s son) and his wife Kari over for coffee after church because there was no café time after the service (which is normal), being it was a holiday and all. They were heading out to visit Tante Ruth and didn’t want to go back home for a little bite to eat, so I informed them I had a little food at our house that needed to be eaten up before we are gone for the week. They didn’t hesitate to accept that invitation, so they came over and had this left over (but incredibly good) salmon/cream cheese spread I make and put on crackers, and Kaleb made waffles (the typical food served with coffee here in Norway.) After a nice little chat with them, I drove Kaleb over to Andre’s house for the afternoon so Kory and I could pack up and get ready for our trip to Spain while Kaleb had some extra play time with his pals.



We haven’t been in contact with too many people since we’ve been back in Norway this time because we’ve been waiting to have the condo done and ready for “viewing,” plus we’ve been pretty busy. But now when we get back from our week in Spain, we will only have three weeks left in Norway, so we need to book up as much time as possible for visiting friends and family. I texted one of Kory’s childhood friends to see about scheduling a time for them next week, and he called us right away, all excited we were in town, and wanted us over for coffee tonight! It was quite a push to make it there but we really wanted to get together with them, also. Getting to their place involved taking a ferry to cross the fjord, but they picked us up on the other side so we didn’t have to pay the $30 fare each way for the car – just the $15 for us. That ferry ride always provides jaw dropping views (see photo of farms lit up by the setting sun), but tonight they were a bit diminished by the low lying clouds in the area. It was still gorgeous.



We mixed a little business with pleasure on our visit with them, as Ole-Petter is one of the head guys at the biggest bank in Norway, so we inquired about all kinds of financial things to help us understand the system here a little better. Ole-Petter also owns one of the coolest cabins in the land, and Kaleb has a huge desire to spend the night in it, so we asked if we could borrow it for a night in a few weeks so Kaleb could have a sleepover with his friends there. They said “yes” before I even finished asking the question. They are the nicest folks. But now Kory is a bit worried about what may happen to their place with boys running loose. It’s not like they will be there without us. It’s also a little half-birthday bash for Kaleb. He otherwise LOST his big summer birthday party because of previous defiant behavior, but after that he made a pretty big turnaround so I promised him some kind of celebration. We otherwise don’t do much on his real birthday in December, so I felt a little guilty about pulling the plug on his summer one. This should do just fine and will cost a whole lot less.



Because we have to get up early tomorrow to drive to Oslo, we thought we’d try to get to bed by 8:30 so we had a few hours sleep before the alarm went off at 4am. That didn’t happen. We had less than three hours for our coffee visit with our friends before we had to go get Kaleb and head home. When we showed up at Andre’s house, his mom had made us a carrot cake, so she invited us to sit down and have coffee and cake with them! We didn’t get home until after ten. Kaleb went right to bed, but Kory and I still had a bit of packing to do so Kory was up until eleven, then I couldn’t sleep so I am now up until after midnight. It will be a long day tomorrow, but I’m excited about the trip. Now I just hope I can sleep.

Mission Accomplished!

Today was the day we made it to the Verpesdalen farm! We tried last week but lost track of the trail but today we gave it another go and we succeeded. Hallelujah! I couldn’t bear another day of Kaleb whining about us taking away precious time with his friends however, so we invited the friends to come along. I’m not dumb. That way we were all happy as Kory got to share the farm from his childhood memories with Kaleb and Kaleb got to share a hike up in the mountain with his friends.

We had wonderful weather for the trip, which made it all the sweeter. We were on the road by 9:30 and expected to be home by six, but it was after eight before we were back. Needless to say, it was a long day and six of those hours were spent hiking in the mountains. We would have NEVER found the alternative trail we took today if it weren’t for the farmer we spoke with last week. He lead us right through his barn and on into the goat pen, then turned us loose to head straight up into their pasture - which was about a hundred degree angle climb. If it were straight up, it would have been ninety degrees, but this had the slightest little tilt to it so we didn’t fall to our death, but the going was pretty steep and the boys were complaining long before we reached the peek. It was a beautiful ascent however but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I would have liked because there were several little “gifts” the goats left behind that I tried my darndest not to step in, so I had to keep my eyes on the ground at all times. Once we got up into the high country, the going was much smoother. We could hear the bells of the sheep that live up in the mountains all summer and the breeze was very refreshing. Kaleb and his buddies, Andre and Toben, didn’t pass one rock they didn’t first climb up on and jump off, nor did they pass one ant hill they didn’t disturb. Such is the entertainment nature provides for 10 year old boys.

Once we reached the end of the ridge, we had an incredibly steep descent into the valley where the farm lays. I thought I might not make it as it was a long way down at another hundred degree angle – quite treacherous on all accounts. The worst part was there was no where to stop and rest because the trail was crawling with huge red bodied ants just waiting to climb up our legs, so it forced us to keep going. Ugh. But we finally made it to the farm and Kory couldn’t have been more pleased. He showed Kaleb where he remembered making goat cheese, where he had tried to ride a goat by holding on to the horns and getting tossed off into the grass, where he rowed a boat out onto the lake and ripped his knee open on a nail sticking out of the side of the boat, and where the field was he tended the goats during the summers he was there. I think Kaleb got himself a few memories there too as the boys all discovered some dried hollow grass they used as a straw to blow bubbles into the lake, they chased after frogs, chewed on some rhubarb and went into the old barn and jumped from the rafter into the big pile of old hay laying inside. Kaleb also lost his first molar today while eating a brownie there. We all ate lunch at a picnic table in the yard, took lots of photos and waited for Odd and Hege. They took the ferry after the one we were on so they were late in arriving, but they made it in half the time we used, so we didn’t have to wait long. Odd was pleased to see the place Kory had talked so much about over the years. Really a peaceful place, but it sits down in a steep valley like the last piece of lettuce in a salad bowl. I’m sure in the winter it would be a dreadful place, getting no sun and lots of snow, but in the summer, it was quite lovely.

We took an hour to ascend the hill behind the farm on our return because I was so worried about Kory’s heart, but also because the boys were tired (one in particular is a little out of shape). I was glad I remembered my walking sticks my friend Paula bought for me as I’m sure I couldn’t have made the climb without them. Odd called us from the ferry line when we were still a little ways from the car and told us we had thirty minutes to make the next ferry or we’d have to wait an hour. It was already nearly six o’clock so it added a little stress to try and come down the steep hill in the goat pasture in a hurry. I was sure I wouldn’t make it. All the goats were crowded around the gate, and Andre was terrified of them and wouldn’t go near them. We had to yell at him to get him to move and after Kory exceeded every speed limit sign we saw on the way down the mountain, we actually made it to the ferry just as they were wrapping it up. We were the last car on and made it just in the nick of time, for which I was so thankful.

Kaleb was invited to a sleepover at Andre’s so we dropped him off there, and then got a phone call inviting us to "kveldsmat" (night food) with some friends from church. I was happy I didn’t have to cook because I was so sore and just wanted to sit down. Bente, our hostess, heard my moans and got out something that looked like Ban Roll-on deodorant and rubbed my legs with it, which unbelievably, took away all the pain I was experiencing. Kory is sure was roll-on heroine for how good it made me feel, but she swears she got it at a health store. Whatever it was, it was a fantastic way to end a great day.

The First of Many Miracles to Come

We bought a car yesterday in Norway – via the internet! Kory really wanted a mini-van and I really didn’t want to spend more than $5,000 but I relented a bit on the price and found a 1997 Plymouth Voyager, 5 seater with lots of cargo space for 38.000nok (about $8k). We had that much in our account over there so at least we don’t have to send any money to buy it. Our account is now empty, but at least we have a vehicle the day we arrive – Hallelujah!

It seemed like it was meant to be – the van was being sold by a neighbor 2 doors down from Kory’s cousin, Rune. I called Rune and asked him to go look at the van. He thought it was fine. I e-mailed the other cousin, Turid, to tell her to give Rune the money and she knew the seller of the van very well so she trusted that he wouldn’t sell us a bummer of a car. He even wants to fix a few things on it before we arrive so it’s in tip-top shape. Those Norskes do things right. So all our concerns about transportation are over and worst case scenario – we can live in the car. Ha.

We were in Oregon this week doing a lot of tax-free shopping getting clothes and shoes and bedding for Norway. Got lots of bargains and I picked up my new laptop too. It will become my new best friend, I’m sure. Now to just get it all packed… therein lies the next challenge.

I finally heard from a shipping company today and am trying not to freak out about the cost of shipping! Each box that’s 24”x18”x18” is about $125 to ship – which means one palette full of 16 of those boxes will cost $2,000 – just to get to Oslo – then we have to pay to have it brought to Aalesund, which honestly, could cost another $2,000. I wrote to Rolf-Inge (a guy we know with a trucking company in Norway) to get an idea of that expense. But still… to buy any of that stuff is outrageous so I’m just planning to pack the things we can’t really borrow from a cousin or it’s too expensive to buy over there – i.e., a printer I got for $50 here but would be probably $500 there… stuff like that. And I’m pretty sure we can get everything in 12-16 boxes so that won’t be too bad. And most of it won’t come home with us – we’ll leave a lot of things over there.

So, that’s the latest this fine May day. We leave 2 months from tomorrow and much has yet to be done – but the shipping has to be ready by mid-June and sometime between now and the 7th of June I have to work on Kaleb’s birthday party. Yikes.